The Red Goddess and the Lonely God
by screaminheathen69
Summary: Next in 'The Guardian Chronicles'. The Powers That Be decide that a certain Lonely God needs a little help finding his way back to his True Path. Like most of the rest of my stuff, multiple crossovers, but centered around Doctor 10 and Willow.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The Powers That Be decide a certain Lonely God needs a little help finding his way back to his True Path.

Crossover: BTVS, Doctor Who, with some Stargate SG-1 and Dogma thrown in.

Notes: Haven't seen 'Voyage of the Damned' or any of series four yet, but I'm just gonna pretend that this is after 'Voyage', and series four never happened.

If you haven't read 'What are we gonna do now?', 'Did somebody say something about not fading away?' or 'When callings collide', it might help if you did. If you don't want to, here's a few helpful tidbits. Buffy is an Immortal (as in Highlander), Dawn tapped into the Power of the Key and has basically become a superhero, Willow died (fighting a Balrog, no less), ascended and became a Goddess, and came back down to carry on the fight, and the Council of Guardians is buddy-buddy with the SGC (Stargate SG-1). Oh, and Joyce is back. She's a White-Lighter.

Disclaimer: If I did own BTVS or Doctor Who, neither show would've ever left the air. Or Stargate SG-1. Or Charmed. I could go on and on, but I shant...

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the First_

Buffy was, needless to say, just a wee bit surprised when a tall, handsome man suddenly popped into the room with her and Willow. She was even more surprised, however, when Willow jumped up and hugged the guy.

"Metty! Long time no see!"

The strange man hugged her back, lifting her off the floor. "Willie! How've you been?"

"Busy! You wouldn't believe how nuts it's been around here." He quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe you would, but you're such a busybody..."

They nattered on a bit, till Buffy cleared her throat. Loudly. "Oh! Sorry, Buff. Buffy, this is the Metatron. Metatron, Buffy Summers, Slayer Extraordinaire."

Metatron stuck his hand out. "Pleased to meet you. Big fan."

Buffy shook his hand. "Umm, thanks." She shot a look at Willow that said, _"Should I know who this guy is?" _Metatron, seeing the look, rolled his eyes.

Willow giggled. "Think 'Dogma', Buffy."

Buffy's eyes bugged. "Metatron? As in (she lowered her voice) The Voice of God? _That_ Metatron?"

Willow and Metatron looked at each other. Willow shrugged and nodded. He sighed, then spread his wings. He was able to touch both walls with the wingtips.

"Whoa." Buffy shook her head and flopped down in her chair. "Daniel told me that all that stuff was real, but I don't think I really believed him until now."

Metatron smiled. "I miss having him around. Things were so much more lively up there with him stirring things up."

Buffy smiled, sadly. " I remember."

"_Sooo_," Willow said, changing the subject. "What brings you to my neck of the woods? Not that I'm not happy to see you, I mean. It's just, you're not exactly famous for just dropping by to say howdy."

He smiled, tucked his wings in, and sat down. "Like you said; busy. I'm here on His behalf. He has a little favor he'd like to ask of you."

"Ask away. I figure I owe Her a few. Thousand. Or so." She settled onto the couch.

"Well, then. Do you remember when He told you about the Time War? And a particular survivor?"

"Yes. Why, has something happened to him?"

"A little over a year ago, his time. Hasn't happened yet, from your point of view."

Willow nodded. Buffy was looking back and forth between the two. "Huh?"

Willow grinned at Buffy. "Sorry. It's a time travel thing."

"Oh. Is this gonna turn into one of those temporal mechanics things? 'Cause, the last time you and Sam got into that stuff, I think my ears actually bled..."

Willow laughed and looked at Metatron. "I dunno. Is it?"

"A bit. More alternate reality than actual time travel, though. Look, it'll be easier if I just show you. Do you mind?" He leaned forward. Willow shook her head and scooted forward to the edge of the couch. Metatron touched the palms of his hands to her temples, and his hands glowed briefly.

Willow sat back when he dropped his hands a few seconds later. "Oh, that poor man. He's starting to slip, isn't he?"

"Yes. And if he does, we'll have lost one of our greatest warriors."

"So, I'm supposed to help him find his way back to the Light Side of the Force?"

"Partly. But you'll also need to lead him back to his heart. And that might take some convincing."

Willow nodded, then grinned. "Guess it's a good thing that I'm a gal that likes a challenge, huh?" She bounced up and rubbed her hands together. "So, where is he?"

Metatron looked at his watch. Yes, he actually wore a watch. Helps to know what time it is in whatever dimension you happen to be in, after all. "Cardiff, on the Rift. For about another ten minutes."

"Oh! I'd better get a move on, then." She turned to Buffy. "Tell Kennedy I'll get ahold of her later." She tossed them both a wave, and teleported out.

Metatron chuckled and turned to Buffy. "Well. I'd best be off myself, then. It was a great pleasure meeting you, Buffy. I hope to do it again, sometime." He gave a little bow and disappeared.

Buffy stood there for a minute, then shrugged and headed off to find Kennedy. "People come and go the strangest ways around here..."

_Meanwhile, inside a funny blue box that nobody ever seems to notice..._

The Doctor, for once, was speechless. It didn't happen often. He always had something to say about everything. Usually at length. But, here he was.

Speechless.

Because, for the second time in just over a year, a strange, red-headed woman had popped into existence inside of his beloved TARDIS. He was getting just a little bit tired of impossible things happening around him.

Plus, he could sense the power radiating off the young woman.

It was a bit disconcerting.

Willow, for her part, was in geek heaven. _Sam would _so_ love this! _She waved, smiling her friendliest smile and putting on her Harmless Face. "Hi there!"

The Doctor started to wave back, then caught himself. "Wait. What? Who? How?" He trailed off, flabbergasted.

Willow laughed and walked over to stand a few feet from the Time Lord. "I'm Willow. I'm here to help..."

* * *

_'To thee no star be dark...'_


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: SG-30 is the Slayer SG team (as in 'Stargate SG-1) I created near the end of 'Did somebody say something about not fading away?'.

Disclaimer: Just playin'. Broke as Hell, so, obviously, no money being made here.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Second_

"I'm Willow. I'm here to help."

"Help?"

"Yes."

"You're here to help?"

"Yup."

"Who?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yup."

"You're here to help _me_?"

"Yessiree."

"And why exactly, Miss Rosenberg, if you don't mind, do you think I'm in need of your aid?" The Doctor leaned on the console, brow quirked, insufferable expression firmly in place.

"Well, I... Wait a second. How do you know my last name? I didn't tell you my last name!"

"We've met."

"No we haven't!"

"Oh, we have. Trust me."

"I think I'd remember meeting a Time Lord. Which I don't. So I haven't." She was proud of her logic. Briefly.

"Yes, you have. Or, you will, actually. Time traveler, remember? Your future, my past. I've met you before, but you haven't met me yet. It's a timey-wimey thing." He realised he might be growing just a bit too fond of that phrase. But it was just so handy.

Willow stood there for a bit, digesting. "Oh. Ummm... This isn't gonna turn into one of those paradox deals where the universe implodes, is it? 'Cause, if it is, I really feel I should have been warned. You know, something along the lines of 'Hey, go help this guy out, but be careful, the universe might die a horrible flame-y paradoxical-type death if you step on the wrong blade of grass', or somesuch."

"No. Well, I say no, probably no. Well, I say probably no, I should say-"

Willow waved her hands. She was a bit bug-eyed at this point. "Never mind. She wouldn't have sent me if that was the case. When did you meet me? If telling me won't cause the End of Everything, that is..."

The Doctor scratched his head, then wandered over to a cupboard and started rummaging around, tossing various items over his shoulder as he searched for something. "Oh, five hundred years ago, give or take. Six regenerations back. Just after Leela left..." He trailed off. He hadn't thought about Leela in years. "How is Dawn, anyway? Still with Spike?"

"She's doing great, and yeah, they're... Wait. You met Dawn too?"

"You both traveled with me for a bit. Speaking of which, the two of you left some clothes behind when you went home. I think they're somewhere in the wardrobe. A-ha! Here it is." He straightened up, smiling, and handed her an old photograph. "There you go. Believe me now?"

"Guess so..." Sure enough, there they were. Willow, Dawn, a man with curly brown hair wearing a multi-colored scrarf that hung clear down to the floor, and what looked like a robotic dog, standing in a much smaller, bright white console room. They were huddled together around K-9, smiling and laughing. "This is you?"

"Yup," said the Doctor, popping the 'P'. "Old Teeth 'n Curls himself. Myself. Whatever. My fourth incarnation. And that," he said, pointing at K-9, "is K-9. Mark II, to be exact. Best dog in the universe." He reached over and skritched under K-9's chin and clicked his tongue. Willow rolled her eyes.

She looked around the control room. "You seem to have redecorated a bit."

The Doctor shrugged. "You spend nine hundred years traveling around in the same ship, you'd get tired of the decor too."

Willow looked closer at the picture. Dawn looked older, late twenties, maybe early thirties. Still gorgeous, too. "When is this, about ten years from now?"

"Umm... What year is it? I didn't actually check..."

"2005."

"Really? I hadn't realised." His face closed off a bit. 2005 was a fairly important year for him. He shook off the memories. "I don't remember the exact date, but it was, ohhh, mid twenty-second century. 2140-something, I think. 2150 maybe?" He shrugged again as he walked over to the console and started fiddling with the controls.

Willow was looking back and forth between him and the picture, an extremely confused look on her face. "Had we been thrown forward in time or something?"

"No. Why?"

"Dawn can't be more than thirty in this picture. How can she still be alive in 2140?"

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

"Figured out _what_?"

The Doctor pulled a face and rubbed a hand through his already messy hair. "I'm not sure if I should be the one to tell you."

The Resolve Face came out. He cringed. Even the Doctor, mighty Time Lord that he was, was powerless against The Resolve Face. "Oh, fine. I don't think we ever actually nailed down an exact number, but Dawn ages at about, ohhh, one twelfth the normal rate for a human. Something to do with her Key-ness. Barring any unfortunate incidents, she could easily live to be over a thousand years old."

Willow stared at the photo, wide-eyed. "Oh, she's gonna love _that_. Poor Xander. He's the only one left of the Scoobies that still ages normally." She stopped and looked at the Doctor. "Unless you know something different...?"

He looked up from the monitor and shot her a dirty look, still twiddling with various switches and dials. "Oh, no. I've already told you more than I should. You're a Goddess now, you'll figure everything out in your own time." He turned back to the monitor. "Now, where is that blasted thing?"

"What thing?" Willow was still staring at the picture.

"The message you left yourself. Made me promise not to look at it 'til you turned up again." He shot her another look. "Made me cross my hearts and swear. It's enough to make a person think you don't trust 'em."

"Don't ask me. I just met you."

"I s'pose. Ah, there you are, you little bugger!" He flipped a switch and smacked the side of the console. A hologram of Willow appeared on the ramp.

_"Hi guys. Willow... Wow, it's weird talking to myself... Anyway, if I remember right, by now The Doctor has managed to completely sidetrack you from the reason that you're there, 'cause he's very, very good at sidestepping things he doesn't want to talk about, but that's okay, you've got plenty of time. You're immortal, you can outlast him. Trust me." _Willow glanced at the Doctor. He ignored her and put on a rapt expression. _"Take your time, you know what you need to do. And as for you, Doctor, just suck it up and let me... I mean, let her help you. You need it, whether you want to admit it or not, and she's just what you need right now. We spent months traveling together. You know how good I am. Shut up Dawn. No comments from the peanut gallery."_

_"I didn't say a word!" _came Dawn's voice, apparently off to holo-Willow's left, since that was the direction she was currently shooting a dirty look.

_"No, but you were thinking up some snarktastic comment. I could see the smoke coming out of your ears."_

_"Bite me."_

_"That's Spike's job, sweetie. Now hush." _Holo-Willow turned back to face the console, _"Look, I need both of you to do something for me. SG-30 is in trouble. They've been cut off from the stargate by about a thousand Jaffa and a batch of Anubis' super soldiers. You two are the only ones that can get there in time.Slayers or not, there're just too many of the bad guys." _She waved her hand, and a stargate address appeared in front of her. _"It's happening right now, your time. The TARDIS knows how to transpose these coordinates. Sorry to put you into the thick of things so fast, but you know how it works. No rest for the not-so-wicked." _She gave them a knowing grin. _"Be safe, and have fun." _The hologram faded out.

Willow turned to the Doctor, who was already entering the coordinates. He held up a hand to head off her question. "Yes, we're going. Anybody you need to let know you're leaving?"

"Um, yeah, just give me a second." She sent a quick message to Buffy and Kennedy through the Wiccan Mind Meld. "Okey-dokey. Ready to go."

"Alright then." He released the emergency brake and the TARDIS lurched into motion. "Alons-y!"

And just like that, they were off...

* * *

_'To thee no star be dark...'_


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: I don't actually know how old the TARDIS is, but since she was obsolete when the Doctor, umm, borrowed her, I made an educated (or uneducated) guess.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Third_

Willow was hanging onto one of the support pillars for dear life. She was reasonably sure that her recent Goddess-ness meant she was pretty hard to kill, but she was still a firm believer in the 'better safe than sorry' theory. And besides, Goddess or not, it still hurt to land tuckus first on hard steel grating. And she wasn't particularly fond of having a sore tuckus.

"Is the ride always this bumpy?" Super-advanced time machine with no seatbelts. Go figure. She was just proud of herself for keeping her voice from being too whiny.

The Doctor, picking himself up from the floor, shot her a manic grin. "Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Keeps you on your toes, doesn't it?" He grabbed hold of the console and gave it a few whacks with the palm of his free hand. "She _is_ nearly fifteen-hundred years old, mind you. And it's not like I can pick up spare Type-40 parts at the local used time capsule lot." He fiddled with the controls a bit, then stroked the side of the console. "Oh, and wouldn't it just be lovely if I could. The things I could do. I'd give you _such _an overhaul, yes I would..."

Willow could swear she could hear him making little smoochie noises. At his ship. _Boys and their toys._ "Would you two like to be alone? Maybe some wine? A little candlelight perhaps?"

"None of that, now. Rose was bad enough. Jealous of the TARDIS, she was! Just didn't understand the connection between a Time Lord and his TARDIS. It's a deep... connect-y... thing. Whoops, here we are..." The TARDIS lurched to a stop, throwing them both to the floor. The Doctor jumped to his feet and hauled a wide-eyed Willow up. "Welcome to VhanPhraakriss VI. I'm sure the SGC has some idiotic alpha-numeric designation for it, but I never much cared for those. Seems a bit rude to the people who took the time to name the place to just go and ignore the name they took the time to give it." He walked back to the console and started twiddling with the scanner.

"Umm... okay?" Willow was pretty sure the Doctor could out-babble her on her best day. Or would that be worst day? "Do we know how close we are to my friends?"

"Wellll... Right planet, right time, right continent. The stargate is about two kilometers thataway." He waved a hand off to his right. "Can't you feel them? That 'mind meld' thingamawhatsis or something?"

"Thingamawhatsis?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that a word?"

"Absolutely. Old High Gallifreyan. 'Thingamawhatsis: Noun; name for things not quite understood but nonetheless real. See also: whatchamabob and frammisamajig.' You can look it up." He kept a perfectly straight face. She rolled her eyes.

"Riiiight... Okay, gimme a minute." Willow closed her eyes and concentrated. "Oh, wow. There're a _lot_ of Jaffa out there. And maybe a hundred of those super-soldier things of Anubis'."

"Kull Warriors?" He didn't much care for that. Those things were almost as tough to kill as Cybermen. The real ones, not the wanna-be's from Pete's World.

"Yeah, those. Where _are_ you, Jenn?" She turned slowly, facing in the general direction of the 'gate. "There they are. Maybe half a mile from the stargate. In a little cave." She opened her eyes. "They've got maybe fifteen minutes before they're found."

The Doctor was busy doing something to his sonic screwdriver. "Is the cave big enough for the TARDIS to materialise in?"

"No. The four of them barely fit in it."

"And the bad guys are between us and them?"

"Most of 'em, yeah."

He stuffed the screwdriver back in his pocket and studied the monitor. "I suppose I could try to move us a bit closer. Of course, that's going to make us a giant blue target for every one of those false-god worshipping idiots, and then we're in the middle of a shooting war..." He was fairly certain he could stop at least a few of the Kull Warriors with his sonic screwdriver, but that still left all those Jaffa with their staff weapons. And at this point, he really had no idea what the true extent of Willow's powers were.

"Actually, I think I can make this much easier." She closed her eyes and opened up the meld. _Jenn? Vi? Brittany? Andrea? Can you guys hear me?_

Vi: _That you, Willow?_

Willow: _Yup. _

Vi: _Nice to hear from you and all that, but we're kinda busy right now._

Willow: _I know. I'm about a half a mile away from you. A friend and I are here to help._

Hailey: _Best news I've heard all year. What's the plan?_

Willow: _It's just the four of you there, right? No fancy alien technology that needs salvaged or anything?_

Brittany: _Nope. Just three Slayers and a Watcher in desperate need of a shower._

Andrea: _Hey!_

Brittany: _Sorry. I meant all of us, not just Andrea. Although, I gotta say..._

Hailey: _Save it for the post-mission barbeque. What do you need us to do, Willow?_

Willow: _Not a thing. I'm gonna teleport you into our ship, so don't go all trigger happy when you get here, okay?My friend won't appreciate it if you shoot up the TARDIS._

Doctor: _Too right!_

Willow: _Okay, hang on..._

There was a bright flash of white light, and suddenly the TARDIS had four more passengers. Four grimy, gunk encrusted, rather odiferous but happy to be alive passengers.

Willow scrunched up her nose and fanned a hand in front of her face. "Whoa! You weren't kidding about the shower thing, were you..."

Hailey flopped over onto her back and stared up at Willow and the Doctor. "_You_ spend five days on the run from a horde of Jaffa, slinking around in caves and hiding in swamps, and we'll see how good _you_ smell." Her hair was so mud-caked that you couldn't tell it was blonde if you examined it with a microscope.

The Doctor was helping Andrea to her feet. "They were hunting you for five days?"

Vi was leaning against a pillar, trying to wring some of the mud from her ponytail. "Yeah. Seems ol' Anubis has developed a serious hard-on for Slayers."

Willow looked at her sharply. "What?"

Brittany, who was still laying face down on the floor, answered, her voice muffled. "Apparently he wants us captured alive. Wants to study us. Something about making a better breed of super-soldier. I feel so honored."

A dark look came over Willow's face. "Maybe I should have a little chat with him. Goddess to false-god."

"No."

Willow turned a disbelieving stare at her new friend. "What?"

He stared right back, deadly serious. "No. You shouldn't. Events have to play out as they were meant to. And you were never meant to come face to face with Anubis. He'll be dealt with, believe me, but not yet, and not by you. That job belongs to another." _And it should have been done long ago, but Oma never could be made to see sense..._

Willow hesitated. "You're sure?"

"Yes, I am. Very. Trust me on this, Willow. Please."

She sighed and visibly deflated. "All right. But someday you're gonna have to explain it to me."

"I will. Soon. Just not right now." Willow nodded her agreement. The Doctor turned to SG-30, toothy grin firmly in place. "Now then; ladies! How would you feel about a nice little side-trip before I take you home. Maybe spend some time relaxing on some nice sunny beach somewhere?"

Hailey smiled, but shook her head. "Sounds wonderful, but we're already overdue. If we don't report back to the SGC, they're liable to send search teams after us, and I don't want them walking into what we did."

The Doctor waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about that. Willow can let them know that you're all safe, and I can can take you back to right after you left if I need to."

"Huh?"

Willow gestured vaguely at the TARDIS. "Time machine. We can go whereever or whenever we want."

Hailey, who was, after all, a genius, was instantly intrigued. "Seriously? How does it work? What's your power source? And how do you avoid a paradox? And what about..."

The Doctor grinned and cut her off. "Oh, you're _that _Jennifer Hailey. I hadn't realised. I'll be happy to answer all the questions I can, later. But first, I'm thinking you all might like a nice hot bath, and maybe a hot meal and a nap? After that, we can hit the beach and discuss temporal mechanics to your hearts content. Alright?"

With that, he lead a very happy SG-30 into the depths of the TARDIS while Willow fired off a quick mental message to General O'Neill that his Slayer team was safe, and that they'd be home soon.

The Doctor ambled back into the control room a few minutes later, whistling to himself as he started pushing buttons and flipping switches. Willow was sitting on the couch, pondering just how strange her life really was. "So, get 'em all settled in?"

"Ooh, yes. Showed them where the wardrobe was and then left 'em in the Turkish Bath." He let off the emergency brake and the TARDIS took off, much more smoothly this time.

"You have a Turkish Bath?" _Just how big _is _this boat?_

"Yup. There's an Olympic-sized swimming pool, too. Somewhere. Now then, beach, beach, beach, which beach shall we try out, hmm?" He snapped his fingers. "Ah! I know just the one! It's perfect. Pristine white sands and clear blue water under a lavender sky. Perfect, I tell you!"

Willow smiled, dreamy eyed. "Sounds lovely."

"Oh, it is! Just the thing they need after their ordeal."

"So where are we going?"

"Little planet called Ariel in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. Absolutely beautiful place. You're gonna love it!"

And they did, too.

That is, after they all got over being mad at him for neglecting to mention that the entire planet was one giant nudist colony...

* * *

To be continued...

_'To thee no star be dark...'_


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: Okay, so I had to have a little more fun with the planet Ariel. And, no, this isn't the Ariel in 'Firefly'.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Fourth_

"Well, I _did_ tell you to wear more sunscreen, but noooo, you said you'd be fine..."

Vi stared daggers at the Doctor, then turned and hobbled off to the TARDIS' infirmary to find some salve for her sunburn. Her _all-over _sunburn. The Doctor shrugged and looked at the rest of his companions. "Well, I did tell her, didn't I?"

Jennifer Hailey snorted and pulled her kimono tighter around her. It was a bit chilly inside the time capsule after having spent the last week lazing about on the beaches of Ariel. "Yup. At least twice. I think she was too preoccupied to pay attention, though."

Willow laughed as she headed off after Vi. "Yeah. Don't suppose it was a beach full of all manner of naked male specimens that had anything to do with that, do you?"

Now it was Andrea's turn to snort. "Like you weren't drooling over all the girls. _And_ a few of the guys. Wait 'til I tell Kennedy!"

Willow stopped at the door that lead into the depths of the TARDIS. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with window shopping! As long as I don't try anything on, all will be forgiven." She turned and flounced off to the infirmary, laughter trailing behind her.

The Doctor grinned and plopped onto the couch next to Hailey. She squeezed his hand. "Thanks for this, Doctor. We had a wonderful time. Well, after the initial shock..."

"Happy to do it. And I honestly _had_ forgotten about the whole nudist colony thing. Well, no so much forgot as overshot. We got here a few years later than I meant to. The planet only just went nudist three years ago. Local time."

"Don't worry about it. We all got over it. Although, I don't think I'm ever gonna tell anyone back home about _that_ part of our little side-trip. We'd never hear the end of it."

The Doctor grinned as he dug something out of his pocket. "You might want to hide these, then." He handed her several pictures. They had been taken on the beach, all six of them smiling, happy and relaxed. And very, very nude.

Hailey flipped through them and giggled. "Ooohh, yeah. Have to find a safe place for these. Kennedy'll probably get a kick out of 'em, though. Who would've thought that volleyball would still be popular a thousand years into the future on a planet in another galaxy?"

"Some things are just too enjoyable to let fade away. The tournament was certainly fun. We'll have to figure out who's going to keep the trophy, as well. How's Vi, then?" he asked as Willow came back into the console room.

She laughed. "Rubbing salve all over herself and moaning in that really good way. I left her and her tub-o-salve alone. Oh, are those the pictures Vraxx took for us?"

"Yup." Hailey handed them to Willow. "Enjoy. We were just discussing how best to hide them."

Willow waved a hand. "We'll figure something out. Ooo, I like this one."

Brittany was looking over her shoulder. "Is that my ass?"

"Yup. That's why I like this one." She giggled and ducked the slap Brittany sent her direction. "Hey, at least you tanned evenly! Just look at poor Vi..."

Laughing, the Doctor got up and walked over to the console. "So, ladies, I suppose it's time to move on. I can have you back at the SGC in a jiff." He paused and grinned. "Or, I could take us on another little side-trip. If you'd like. Completely up to you, of course."

Hailey glanced around at the other women in the room. There was a sort of collective shrug. "What'd you have in mind, Doc?"

He thought about it for a second, and then the grin was back. "Are any of you Elvis fans?"

Later, they weren't sure which was more fun; actually going and seeing Elvis perform live on the Ed Sullivan Show, or seeing the expressions on all their friends and co-workers faces when they were able to point themselves out in the middle of the audience in the old TV footage.

And then there was also the fact that they took out a gang of vampires who had decided it would be fun to turn Elvis into one of the undead...

* * *

To be continued...

_'To thee no star be dark...'_


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: This chapter starts a story I've had in mind for SG-30, Dawn, Spike and Atlantis for a while, that should (if my muse cooperates) get its own separate fic later. This current fic is going to turn into what I hope will be quite a few adventures featuring the Doctor and Willow.

This takes place at the end of season one of Atlantis, during 'The Siege, part II'.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Fifth_

When all was said and done, SG-30 spent the better part of four months traveling with the Doctor and Willow. For the most part, it was fun and games, with only three escapades of the more dangerous variety, including the post-Ed Sullivan Show-incident.

He took them to New New York. He took them back so they could see real, live dinosaurs. (This, of course, wound up being one of the more dangerous trips. Vi just couldn't help but try to touch a baby triceratops. It's mama wasn't too happy about that.) They watched the first manned landing on Mars. They went to see AC/DC live at Donnington in 1991. They even made a brief stop in Sunnydale in May of '03, on a certain fateful Tuesday.

It was while the fight in the Hellmouth was going on. Willow and Vi, with the help of the others, made a quick pass through the Summers house to grab pictures and whatever else they could think of. Willow even grabbed Mr. Gordo for Buffy.

They finally headed back when Willow got a message through the meld that SG-30 was needed back at the SGC. So, true to his word, the Doctor brought them back only a few hours after the rescue on VhanPhraakriss VI.

Caused a bit of a stir when the TARDIS materialised in the gateroom, though.

Two hours later, once SG-30 had been cleared through medical (and Willow had managed too calm Jack down), Jack called for a meeting. He, SG's 1 and 30, Willow and the Doctor, and several others met in the conference room. Willow was surprised to see Dawn and Spike there, as well.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you two," Willow said as she hugged them both, "but what are you guys doing here?"

"Angel had a vision," Dawn answered, giving Willow the once-over. "Whatever it's about apparently involves us and Jenn's team. Weren't you wearing different clothes when you left? And what's with the instant tan? You've only been gone about three hours."

"Huh? Oh, right. We were actually gone for almost four months." She gestured through the window at the TARDIS sitting on the gateroom floor. "Time machine. Wait 'til you hear where we've been!"

"A little later, if you wouldn't mind, Willow." Jack rapped his knuckles on the table. "Time is in short supply, at least according to the message we got from Atlantis. And that, um, vision," Jack made air quotes as he said 'vision', "Angel had."

"You finally heard back from the Atlantis team?"

"Yup. And they're in for a whole world of hurt if we don't get some help to them asap. Apparently they managed find, and of course, piss off, a whole galaxy full of life-force-sucking bad guys. Called the 'Wraith'. We're sending reinforcements through the gate tomorrow at 0800."

Spike rolled his eyes. "And, according to the vision Peaches had, me, the Bit and the Slayer-Nauts over there are all supposed to go with 'em. Apparently the Powers That Be Idiots think we'll be helpful fighting off a galaxy's worth of space vampires."

Willow was a bit wide eyed. The Doctor folded his arms across his chest and sat back, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I thought you didn't have enough power to gate to another galaxy," Willow said, trying to remember everything she and Sam had discussed about wormhole physics.

Sam Carter spoke up. "We didn't. We recently found another ZPM. We're in the process of tying it into the gate's power systems. As soon as we send Col. Everett's team through," she gestured at the grey-haired man sitting at the other end of the table, "we're going to install the ZPM on the _Daedalus_ to boost its hyperdrive. That should let them make the trip in a matter of days, instead of the three weeks it would otherwise."

"And even that may be too late, if the time table Atlantis sent us was accurate," Daniel said. "If it was, the Wraith are already there."

Hailey shifted in her seat. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, why are we waiting until tomorrow? If the situation is as bad as that, shouldn't we be going as soon as possible?"

Sam answered. "We're waiting on the last of the supplies to arrive. We want to do this all in one trip so we don't drain the ZPM any more than we have to." Hailey nodded. The Slayer part of her wanted to just hurry up and go, but the military and scientist parts of her knew it was better to wait.

The Doctor took a deep breath, then turned to Jack. "What sort of supplies?"

"Sorry?"

"What sort of supplies are we talking about? A few big things, lots of little stuff, bit of both?"

Jack shot a glance at Sam, who pulled up the list on her laptop. "Food and medical supplies, spare clothing, a lot of other incidental items, a bunch of ammo, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and several rail guns that were supposed to go to the _Prometheus._"

"Do you have the complete list there?" Sam nodded. "Mind if I take a look?" Sam sent a questioning look to Jack, who shrugged. Sam slid her laptop over to the Doctor, who started scrolling through the sizable list, humming quietly to himself.

Willow, who had been lost in thought, sighed. "Maybe I should come with. Sounds like you can use all the power you can get."

Dawn shook her head. "No. Angel said the Powers wanted you to stick with your current mission. Whatever that is."

Willow nodded, not particularly surprised. "Okay. But if you need me..."

Dawn grinned. "If we need you, you'll know it. Trust me."

The Doctor, who had been listening while he pondered the lists, nudged Willow. "So I'm a mission, am I?"

Willow shrugged and gave him a 'what's a girl to do?' look. He rolled his eyes and turned to Jack. "Why don't you go ahead and send the Zero Point Module up to your ship, general. I can get your men and equipment to Atlantis. The _Daedalus_ can get there a day earlier that way."

Jack's eyebrows tried to disappear somewhere above his hairline. "And how, pray tell, would you accomplish_ that_?"

"The TARDIS. I can have us in Atlantis before we leave here. Not that I would, mind you. Wouldn't want to derange the time-line."

"All those people are going to fit into that little blue box? Not to mention several tons of equipment and supplies?"

"Bigger on the inside, " the Doctor said tiredly. He'd already spent the beter part of an hour explaining dimensional transcendentalism to Carter and Dr. Lee.

Jack looked at Willow askance. Willow shrugged. "A _lot_ bigger on the inside. Although I don't see how all those big crates are gonna go through that little door."

The Doctor waved a hand in dismissal. "Oh, that's easy enough. I'll just materialise her around their stuff. Then we load up all the nice soldiers and off we go. No problem." He grinned that huge toothy grin of his to put them at ease. He intentionally didn't mention just how hard it was to balance out that sort of materialisation. It wouldn't do to worry them.

Jack thought about it. Getting the daedalus there a full day sooner would certainly be a good thing. And not having to use the ZPM to power the stargate meant that it would have that much more charge left in it when it reached Atlantis. He could see Carter was thinking the same thing. She gave a little nod. Jack smiled, then shot a sideways look at the Doctor. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Trust me, I don't want Atlantis in the hands of the Wraith any more than you do. If they find their way to a new feeding ground..." He trailed off with an exagerrated shudder.

Willow stood and put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Um, Jack, could you give us a minute?" At Jack's nod, she pulled the Doctor into the hall. "Are you really sure you want to do this? Get involved in their fight? We'll probably be landing in the middle of a battle, and I know how you are about getting caught up in events."

He just smiled, gently. "Yes. I'm sure. It needs doing, this fight. I don't plan to stick around any longer than necessary, mind you. It's _their_ fight, in the end. And they'll do all right in the long run. And, since I'm your mission, I suppose you'll just have to come along and lend a hand, eh?"

She grinned right back. "I guess so. Shall we?"

He stuck his elbow out. "Yes, let's." She hooked her arm through his and they walked back into the conference room. All eyes turned toward them.

"We're in," Willow said happily.

"For now," said the Doctor. "We'll help you through this fight, maybe help get things started in the right direction, but then we're off. Agreed?"

"Agreed," said Jack. He and the Doctor shook hands. "Carter, see that the ZPM gets up to the Daedalus asap. Col. Everett, get your team ready to go the minute the last of the gear arrives. Let's make it happen, kids."

He got several 'yessirs' and the room started to clear out. Soon, it was just Jack, Daniel, Dawn, Spike, Willow and the Doctor left. Jack poured himself another cup of coffee. "Thanks for the help."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. "Happy to be of service. It's about time _somebody_ did something about the Wraith. God forbid the Ancients, that is what you're calling them, right? God forbid they actually clean up their own messes."

"So they_ are _responsible for the Wraith?" Daniel asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. Always experimenting, those Ancients. Always trying new things. A lot of those nifty new things came back to bite 'em in their collective posterior. And then they go off and ascend ( he rolled his eyes and made air quotes as he said 'ascend' ) and leave their junk scattered across four galaxies. Which, of course, made it nice and easy for races like the Wraith and the Goa'uld to rise to power. And those two aren't the worst, let me tell you."

He sighed and clasped his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. "The problems those idiots caused. Enlightened my foot..." He shook his head, dropped his feet from the table and jumped up, rubbing his hands together. "Well, might as well get ready. C'mon, Willow. I think there are a couple of large storage areas in the lower levels of the TARDIS that should do nicely. Better make sure we don't need to shuffle anything around to make room. Dawn, Spike, you coming?"

"Definitely!" Dawn grabbed Spike's hand and dragged him out of his chair.

Jack jerked a thumb at Daniel. "Mind if we tag along? I'd like to get a look inside the magic box."

The Doctor shrugged. "Why not?" As they headed down the stairs, he threw a smirk over his shoulder. "Besides, if we do have to move some cargo around, the more, the merrier, right?"

Jack paused, then continued down at a more sedate pace.

"D'oh!"

* * *

To be continued...

I'm gonna drop our intrepid travelers in the middle of the siege next chapter, so it should be a bit more action-y. I have a definite ending in mind for this fic, but all the adventures in between, I'm just makin' those up as I go. Which is fun, if occasionally headache-inducing.

_'To thee no star be dark...'_


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: Yeah, I know. It's been forever since I updated, well, anything. I've been fighting a back injury for the last year and a half, plus my old computer died for the final time and took everything with it when it went. It's been really hard to get anything done with all that's been going on.

I'm currently bored out of my mind (and doped up on darvacet, God help me) waiting for the surgery in October, so I'm gonna try like mad to get some writing done. I know this is a short one, but I wanted to get _something_ out.

For any newcomers, this fic carries on after several others. It's a crossover, with BTVS, Angel, Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis, Doctor Who, and there will probably be elements of Highlander, Charmed, LOTR, and others as well. There's more info at chapter one of this fic.

For the folks who have been following this story, thanks for your patience. I swear I'm gonna get all these fics wrapped up eventually, if real life'll just stop being such a pain. And I do mean that literally…

Disclaimer: It's the disclaimer. 'Nuff said. No, really. I mean it. Don't make me pull out the legalese!

______________________________________________________________________

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES: THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

______________________________________________________________________

_Chapter the Sixth_

They spent a few hours getting some of the smaller items stowed away on the TARDIS and getting the cargo holds prepped for the larger equipment that was arriving in the morning.

Once things were as ready as they could be, Willow popped over to England to spend a couple of hours with Kennedy. She wasn't all that sure when they'd be back this way, so she figured she ought to grab some quality time with her sweetie while she could. And she did love quality sweetie time.

She teleported back (happy and just a wee bit flushed) just in time for the 1600 briefing (which was amazingly boring), then spent some time catching up on the gossip with Dawn and Spike. Which was mostly her telling them about her last four months traveling on the TARDIS, but they weren't complaining.

Later that night, Willow found The Doctor in the TARDIS' library, flipping through a rather thick book with his feet propped up on a stack of similar volumes. "Watcha readin'?"

"My diary. Well, one of 'em, anyway. I seem to have accumulated quite a few of them over the last thousand years."

"Odd how that happens."

"Isn't it?"

Willow slid one off the top of the stack and plopped down next to him. "Looking for something in particular, or just reminiscing?"

"Bit of both, I suppose." He tossed the book on the floor and rubbed his eyes. "I wrote some important information down in one of these things, but I can't remember _which_ one." He smiled at her tiredly. "That's the problem with time travel and diary keeping. One tends to get terribly out of order when it comes to keeping track of things chronologically."

Willow opened the diary up to a random page and started skimming. "So what is it that you're trying to find? Wait a second… A killer inflatable plastic chair? There was a killer inflatable plastic chair? Seriously?"

"Yup. You should've seen the assassin doll." He gave a mock shudder that was only part mock, then grabbed another volume and got comfy again. "A couple of regenerations back, I got stuck in an alternate time-line for a while, about, oh, thirty years from now. In that time-line, Atlantis fell to the Wraith. They made their way to this galaxy and… Well, let's just say things weren't going well. Spent eight months dodging the Wraith before I figured out a way to get home. While I was there, I stumbled across what was left of the SGC and did some digging to find out what went wrong. I wrote it all down in one of these," he gestured at the pile, "if I could just find the bloody thing."

Willow was flipping through yet another diary. _Whoa! Giant space bugs? The Loch Ness Monster? _"Have you forgotten what you found out?"

"No, I still remember most of it. The important details, anyway. What I _can't_ remember are the stargate addresses I copied down."

"Stargate addresses?"

He nodded, still flipping pages. "Yes. Once I had some idea of the problems they'd had, I did some more digging before coming home. I hacked into one of the Ancient Repositories and pulled the addresses for ..." He stopped scanning and grinned. "Aha! There you are. The coordinates for fifteen Ancient outposts that _should_ have zero point modules!"

He jumped to his feet, hauling Willow up with him. "Fancy making a few quick stops before we head off to Pegasus?"

* * *

Half an hour later, they set off, with Dawn, Spike, SG-30 and SG-1 (with one Brigadier General Jack O'Neill included) tagging along. The ride was somewhat smoother than normal since The Doctor had Willow and Hailey helping out with the controls. Carter was in pure geek heaven. It wasn't often she had the opportunity to study a time machine up close, after all.

The plan was to try to find six ZPM's, then go after the others at a later date. Six would allow three for Atlantis, and one each for the _Prometheus_,the SGC, and the Ancient outpost in Antarctica. They were also hoping to find a supply of drones, which Atlantis and Earth were both just the tiniest bit short of.

The Doctor was hoping to get in and out quick, but since he really didn't know what they might be flying into (he'd never actually _been_ to any of the planets they were going to), it had seemed prudent to bring some backup along. Jack had invited himself along in case they 'needed somebody with the ATA gene'.

Mostly, he was just bored with the whole sitting behind a desk thing. "Sooo… We there yet?"

Carter rolled her eyes. Willow smiled and nodded towards Dawn. "Careful, you're stealing her line."

Jack shrugged. "Pretty sure I said it first."

Dawn smiled at him sweetly. "Well, you _are _older than the hills."

He shrugged, grinning. "Last time I checked, I wasn't billions of years old, unlike some other Key-type person whose name I won't mention."

The Doctor looked up from the controls, smiling. "Y'know, it _is_ rather nice not being the oldest person in the room for a change."

"Isn't it, though?"

"Of course, it could also be said that she's only a little over five years old."

"True. I do tend to forget that…"

"I can, and just in case you're wondering, _will _zap you both." Dawn was staring daggers at both of them. Spike was very carefully hiding his smirk.

Jack thumbed his nose at her, then sauntered closer to the console. Which The Doctor was currently applying Emergency Repair Procedure 1 to. (1 being the one where he smacks it with a rubber mallet. 2 requires a good swift kick. Repeat as needed.)

"So?"

The Doctor gave him a blank look. "Sorry?"

"Are we there yet?"

The Doctor snorted, then went back to smacking the console with his ever handy rubber mallet. "Just about. I'm going to do a quick orbit of the planet to scan for the zed-pm, see if I can't save us a bit of time. Speed things along." He wagged a finger at Vi. "No petting the dinosaurs this time!"

Daniel gave Vi a funny look. "Dinosaurs?"

Vi blushed, then made a _what can you do? _gesture. "Mama triceratops are a _lot_ faster than you might think…"

"Oh," said Daniel. "Wait. Dinosaurs? There are _dinosaurs_ on this planet?"

___________________________________________________________________

_To be continued…_

___________________________________________________________________

Okay, I know I said I was gonna drop them into the siege this chapter, but I'm going in a slightly different direction now. Having seen the amazing series four, I decided I can't really ignore it after all, which requires a complete rethink. And I haven't thunk out that particular think just yet.

Thanks for your patience, and wish me luck with the (gulp) back surgery.

Later! ;)

'_To thee no star be dark…'_


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: See? I told you I'd get back to this. Had the back surgery, feel better than I have in twenty years. It's positively amazing how much better a body can feel when the pain you've suffered through day-in and day-out for nearly nineteen years is gone.

Disclaimer: It's still theirs. But I'm fine with that. I'm havin' fun just playin' with these worlds.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES : THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Seventh_

Turns out there _were_ dinosaurs.

Fairly intelligent dinosaurs too, as luck would have it, and none too fond of folks that wandered into their temples. They'd been worshipping the Great Shiny Thingamabob for centuries, after all.

Of course, since the complete SG-1 was along for the ride, they should've known things wouldn't go smoothly. It had long since been decided that SG-1 and Chaos Theory went hand in hand.

Jack got a kick out of the fact that he got to pull Daniel's bacon out of the fire again, though. He _really _missed going off-world.

At any rate, after the inevitable running was over with and everybody was safely back aboard the TARDIS, well, _that_ would be when the Doctor discovered the ZPM they'd nearly gotten themselves killed for was nearly dead.

"I was afraid that might happen." The Doctor chucked the ZPM to Hailey and started punching coordinates into the console. "Next stop Athaelious. Always wanted to go to Athaelious. Supposed to have sentient oceans. Imagine that! Oceans that think!"

Jack grabbed the nearest column as the TARDIS lurched into motion. "So what are we gonna do with a dead ZPM?"

The Doctor waved an absent-minded hand. "Not to worry. I'll have it charged by the time we get there."

Carter looked at the Doctor, stunned. "You know how to charge a zero point module?"

"Of course. Simplest thing in the world," he said, big goofy grin firmly in place.

Carter lit up. "How? Can you show me?"

"Certainly. Come with me to the lab."

The whole group followed him through the labyrinthine corridors, finally arriving at the lab after two wrong turns, the Doctor muttering something about 'the old girl making up her mind about which way she kept her innards'. He took the ZPM from Hailey and walked over to an odd looking device sitting off in a corner. Facing the group, he put on his best teacher voice. "Now then. Step one in re-charging a depleted Zed-PM. Find yourself a Zed-PM recharging unit." He thumped a hand down on the dusty piece of equipment. "Sorted. Step two; insert the depleted Zed-PM into said re-charging unit," which he proceeded to do, with just a bit of a flourish. "Step three; (and here's the difficult bit) press the 'on' button, step back, wait twenty hours for the re-charging device to go 'ding', remove the now fully charged Zed-PM from the re-charging device, and go about your business."

He hit the on button. The charger lit up and started humming quietly. The Doctor turned and sketched a little bow. "Questions? Comments?"

Jack was looking back and forth between the machine and the grinning Time-Lord. "It actually goes _ding_?"

"Well," said the Doctor, dragging out the 'well', "more of a _bong_, to be honest, but you get the idea."

Carter was beside herself. "Where did you find this? The Atlantis team has torn the city apart trying to figure out how to charge their ZPM's. They can't even find anything about them in the database."

The Doctor perched on a stool. "The Ancients, in their infinite wisdom, took all of their re-charging units with them when they went back to Earth. They also deleted everything about manufacturing and maintaining Zed-PM's from the database, along with some of their more dangerous technologies. I think they were worried about the wrong people stumbling across the city and mucking about with technologies that were beyond them." He gave his human traveling companions a meaningful look, then gave a little shrug. "It was all in the repository I hacked into, though."

He nodded at the charging unit. "Found this old thing stashed away in a storeroom on Gallifrey back before the Time-War. Thought it prudent to 'borrow' it."

Willow laughed. "You do a lot of 'borrowing' like that, don't you?"

The Doctor pulled a face. "It's not like anyone was actually using the silly thing. Just wish I'd made off with a few more spare Type-40 parts while I was at it. I was refurbishing the Console Room at the time. I rebuilt a number of the old girl's systems in the process, but I do find myself wishing I'd done a more thorough overhaul while the parts were actually available."

The TARDIS groaned, just a bit. The Doctor patted the wall behind him. "Now, now. You know you're still my girl." Carter swore she could hear the TARDIS sighing. Willow knew she could. Goddess-ey powers and all that.

Just about then, the TARDIS lurched to a stop, sending everybody crashing to the floor. The Doctor popped up, all grin and teeth. "Ah Yes! Athaelious, here we come!" He sprinted out the door, only to pop back in about two seconds later. "Coming? Or would you rather finish your naps first?" He deftly avoided the thick manual Willow chucked his direction. "In your own time, then." And with that, he was off.

Jack thumped his head back down on the floor and crossed his ankles. "If anybody's asking, I'm all for that 'nap' idea."

Willow floated Jack up off the floor, then headed out the door with him in tow. "Nap later. ZPM now." Daniel and Sam managed to stifle their snickers as they listened to Jack gripe all the way back to the console room.

The empty console room. They found the Doctor outside. He was kneeling down at the edge of the surf, one hand in the water, eyes closed. Without opening his eyes, he held his free hand out to Willow. "Take my hand."

She did, then gasped as she connected to the worldwide consciousness that was the living ocean of Athaelious. "Oh my goddess…"

"_Welcome to Athaelious, Willow. I have long awaited the arrival of the Red Goddess."_

"You know who I am?"

"_Of course. Your coming was foretold long ago. We have much to discuss, you and I, if you are willing to stay while your companions go in search of their power source."_

Willow looked at the Doctor, who was nodding. "I think it's important, Willow. We shouldn't be too long. The Ancient lab we're here for is just over that rise. Back in a jiff."

Willow looked out across the ocean, then nodded. "Sure. How often do I get a chance to commune with a living ocean?" The Doctor grinned, gave her a quick hug, then plodded off in the general direction of the lab, curious group in tow.

Willow started to kick off her shoes, then paused. "Do you mind?"

"_Not at all."_

"Thank you." She took off her shoes and socks, then rolled up her pants and waded in. The direct contact was like touching a live wire. She felt as though she could lose herself in the meld forever, in the sheer power and immensity of it, but knew instinctively that she was safe. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced, and considering that this is Willow we're talking about here, that's saying something. She's friends with _God_, after all.

"So. What'd you wanna chat about?"

"_Well…"_

* * *

'_To thee no star be dark…'_

_Happy Holidays kiddies!_


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: Not a lot of Willow in this one. Things are actually a bit Stargate heavy at this point, and will be for a while, but eventually I'm planning on working Series 4 of Doctor Who into the story line, just with Willow in the mix. Just haven't figured out how, yet.

For the sake of my story line, in the Stargate-verse, I'm having the episode 'Threads' happen _after _'Moebius'. Which is how I thought it should have happened anyway, since it would have been a far better season finale. Oh well. Anyhoo, that's why Anubis is still around to give our heroes grief.

Disclaimer: It's the disclaimer. 'Nuff said.

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES:

THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Eighth_

"Fire in the hole!"

Jack grinned his big patented dumb grin and triggered the C-4, blowing the stubborn door right out of its frame, finally allowing them access to the Ancient lab buried in the hillside.

The Doctor pulled his fingers out of his ears and shook the dust from his hair. "You do realise we could've just used the TARDIS, don't you? Just popped right inside the lab. You know, QUIETLY."

Jack just shrugged, still grinning. "Been a while since I've had the chance to blow anything up. Wouldn't wanna get out of practice."

Carter shot Jack a look while digging her flashlight out of her vest. "You blew up a Goa'uld mothership just a few weeks ago, sir."

"While flying your shiny new toy, no less," added Daniel. Jack shrugged again, choosing to ignore the point. He did love his C-4.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and made his way into the corridor, muttering about 'brigadiers and things that go boom'. "This was supposed to be a weapons lab. If we're lucky, we might find a supply of drones. In which case I'll have to bring the TARDIS inside anyway. Unless you lot want to lug 'em all the way back to the beach."

Dawn flew down and landed next to Spike. "No thanks. Not that big a fan of the manual labor." She gestured back the way she came. "Willow's still wading around on the beach."

The Doctor nodded as he shined his torch around, looking for identifying marks. "I expect she'll be there for a good while yet. The Ocean seemed like it had rather a lot to speak with her about." He opened a door, then promptly swung it shut. "Nope. Broom closet. I suppose what we're looking for will be behind the last door we open."

Jack snorted. "Isn't it always?"

Daniel, reading the writing above yet another door, huffed a laugh. "That, or after all the booby traps."

Vi stopped in her tracks. "Booby traps? There are booby traps?"

Daniel and the Doctor exchanged looks, then went back to their search. "Probably," Daniel answered. "Nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Ancients."

Sam opened a door further down the hall, did a double take, then called back to the rest of the group. "Hey, guys, you might wanna take a look at this." She waved them over and disappeared into the room.

As the rest of them filed in behind her, Jack paused and nudged Daniel. "You seein' what I'm seein'?"

Daniel just nodded, speechless. The room was huge. Laying or standing all around them were stargates, dozens of them, in various stages of assembly. The Doctor and Sam were huddled over a computer terminal he'd managed to activate. "Well, I'd say my information was a bit out of date. This was a weapons lab at one point, but it seems they were using it solely for stargate construction right up until the last of them ascended. There's a note in here from the engineer in charge. He must have left it just before he went all glowy."

Spike was walking around the room, counting gates. "Sixty-three. There're sixty-three of 'em. Only a couple that look to be complete, but I'll wager all the parts are here to finish the rest of 'em."

Sam was positively giddy. "And all the information on stargate construction is right here in the computer! We can finish these, maybe even build more. We could start our own gate system, put them on planets the Goa'uld don't know about."

Jack was pondering what they'd found. "We're gonna have to get a ship back here with a full engineering team as soon as possible. Now that we know about this, you just _know _it's only a matter of time 'til ol' Anubis tumbles onto it." Teal'c grunted his agreement. Anubis did seem to have the uncanny knack of knowing what was going on.

The Doctor smiled and gave an exuberant "A-ha! There you are, my beauties!" He pulled up a map of the complex. "Here you go, Brigadier. Just follow this map, and it'll take you straight to the Zed-PM room, where you will find not one, but _four _Zed-PM's."

Several jaws dropped at that. "Four?" Sam sputtered. "Seriously?"

"Yup. Apparently, it takes a lot of power to manufacture a stargate." He paused, scrolling through the specs for the facility. "I'd suggest that you leave one of the Zed-PM's in place. Powering down the lab completely looks like a bad idea. Once you retrieve the rest of the Zed-PM's, you should be able to get the facility back up to full power. It looks like there should even be a recharging unit, in this room here, just off the power core."

He punched in a few commands, then turned away from the terminal grinning. "There you go. I've disconnected three of them. They're safe to remove now, and I've tied everything else into the remaining power module. Once we leave, the system will put up a shield to protect the complex until you can return." He scribbled something on a scrap of paper, then handed it to Sam. "Here's the code to get back in."

Sam took it absent-mindedly. She was completely wrapped up in the technical specs she was skimming through. Jack, knowing the look in her eyes only too well, turned to SG-30. "Hailey, why don't you and your team go pick up the batteries, maybe do a little looking around while you're at it. Tee, Daniel, let's do a quick recon of the next level down." He looked at Dawn and Spike. "You two wanna lend a hand? Some extra eyes wouldn't hurt, and we need to be moving on pretty soon. We've only got six hours until the last of the supplies arrive."

"Sure," said Dawn. "Spike and I will take the bottom level."

Jack nodded and checked his watch. "Great. Back here in, what, an hour?" Everyone agreed, then headed out, leaving the Doctor and Carter to mull over the computer.

Sam was scrolling through the index, looking for anything concerning drones. "I'm not seeing anything that looks like drone storage."

"Me either. But look _here_," he pointed at a room on the lowest level. "_That _looks to be where some of the drone manufacturing equipment was. Might still be there." He shot her a toothy grin. "Worth a quick look-see, wouldn't you say?"

"Absolutely." Sam pulled a copy of the map onto her tablet, then clicked her mic as they headed out the door. "Sir, the Doctor and I are headed down to the bottom level. We found what we think might be a drone manufacturing center."

"_Gotcha, Carter. __Let me know what you find. So far this level looks like it was mostly residential."_

"Will do, sir. Spike, Dawn, we're on our way down to you."

"_You want us to wait for you?"_

"Thanks, no Dawn. Continue with your recon, we'll head straight there."

"_Righty-o. Scooby Recon, that's us."_

"_I am _not _a bloody Scooby!"_

"_Chill, Spike. You are, and you know it, so deal."_

Carter signed off, chuckling. She noticed the Doctor shaking his head bemusedly. "What?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I'm still having trouble with the whole 'William the Bloody having a soul' thing, and I've known him for six hundred years. Ah, here's the stairs. Ladies first."

"Thanks. So why the trouble? He's one of the good guys now, right?"

"Oh, absolutely. Wasn't supposed to be, mind you. Originally, he died in Sunnydale after a falling out with the Slayer. But then those monks had to go and alter reality and changed everything." He shook his head at the memory. "You wouldn't _believe_ the mess that caused. Ripples right across the cosmos, I tell you. It was the last thing Romana and I cleaned up before the Time War started." He smiled at the memory. Romana, predictably enough, had grown bored with the Presidency fairly quickly, so when the Sunnydale Disruption threatened to destroy a third of the Milky Way due to the monks bungling the spell that inserted Dawn into reality, she had jumped at the chance to join the Doctor on his mission to repair the damage. It had been fun working with her and K-9 again, if ever so briefly.

They saw a flash down the corridor as they came out of the stairwell. Dawn was snapping a picture of Spike with her camera phone. Dawn waved to them as they went by. "Lotsa labs, so far. Couldn't tell you what they were doing in any of them, though."

Carter glanced in a few doors as they went. "I am _so _gonna have to come back here."

The Doctor stopped in front of a large double door. "Here we are. Let's have a look." He waved his hand over the door sensor, and the large doors ground open for the first time in several thousand years. They stepped into the room beyond, then stood there gaping as the lights slowly came on, revealing row upon row of shelves, all loaded down with drones. Thousands of them.

"Holy Hannah…"

"I think you might just have enough now, Samantha. Good grief." The Doctor went to work on a nearby terminal with his sonic screwdriver, and soon had it lit up. "One million, seven hundred and twenty three thousand. Give or take a few hundred." He stepped back, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Jackpot, I'd say."

"And then some. We'll be forever ferrying these things back to Earth on the _Prometheus._"

The Doctor shrugged. "Just use the stargate."

"We couldn't connect, remember? The gate on this planet must be buried, or they took it with them when they left." Carter paused, then got the same gleam in her eye that the Doctor had. "But we've got a room full of stargates right upstairs."

He grinned. "Exactly. Shouldn't take too long to get one of 'em up and working. Then we can be on our way to the next planet while your crew starts hauling drones back to the SGC."

Carter was already out the door, calling Jack on her radio. The Doctor gathered in Dawn and Spike as he passed. "C'mon, you two. I expect we're gonna need a bit of muscle." He paused, seeing Dawn still holding her cell phone. "Can I borrow that for a minute?"

"Sure. Don't think you're gonna get a signal out here, though." She handed him her phone, which he went to work on with his screwdriver as they walked.

"You'd be surprised. Bit of jiggery-pokery, and _voila_!" He showed her the display, which was now showing full bars. "It'll work anywhere in the universe now. Just keep it charged." Dawn just gaped.

They came into the gate room, where Carter was explaining the plan to the rest of the crew. The Doctor tossed Dawn's phone to Jack. "Here you go, Brigadier. You might want to let the folks back home in on what's going on. Give them a chance to get some supplies ready."

Jack shot him a disbelieving look, but went ahead and dialed. Much to his surprise, Walter answered on the second ring. "Walter, buddy! Guess what…"

Within the hour, there was a steady flow of drones to the SGC. Satisfied with the progress, the travellers collected Willow and headed off to the next address. Willow didn't have much to say about her conversation with the Ocean, but whatever it was they had discussed, it seemed to have affected her profoundly. As the TARDIS materialized on the sands of Orriphanni Prime, she shook it off and put a smile on her face.

The Doctor held Willow back as the rest stepped outside. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. Yes. Honestly, I'm fine." She gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine. "I'm still absorbing it all. I promise, I'll tell you about it someday. Just not now, okay?"

"Okay." Not really satisfied, but not doubting that she'd fill him in when the time was right, he went out after the rest. He pointed off to his left, then promptly headed off in the opposite direction.

Willow stood there for a moment, then started off after her friends, shaking her head sadly. "That poor man…"

* * *

To be continued…

'_To thee no star be dark…'_


	9. Chapter 9

Notes: This is a conversation between the Doctor and Willow that I figured had to happen sooner or later, considering the Doctor's long standing opinions concerning magic.

Disclaimer: Oh, you know this part…

* * *

THE GUARDIAN CHRONICLES: THE RED GODDESS AND THE LONELY GOD

By screaminheathen69

* * *

_Chapter the Ninth_

"There's no such thing as magic."

"Of course there is!"

"Of course there isn't."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-huh."

"How can you say that? Hello, uber-witch, right here!"

"Ascended being, actually."

"…"

"Yes, I know, goddess and what-not, but it's all the same."

"Okay, fine, I'm all goddess-y now, true, but I spent the better part of seven years doing the witchy thing, and there is _sooo _such a thing as magic. Lots and lots of magic."

"No, there's science, and the ability to control the forces of the universe, scientifically. What you call magic can be explained scientifically. Always."

"But -"

"I've been at this for a _very _long time, Willow. I've seen it all. Magic is just science. Weird science, strange science, occasionally astonishing science, sure, but still."

"But spells, what about spells? How can someone saying a spell and making something happen not be magic? Seems pretty darn magical to me."

"Words have power. Numbers have power. The right words, the right numbers, spoken or written in the right place at the right time, they can make anything possible. You should've seen what ol' Shakespeare made happen. Even simply believing in a thing strongly enough can make it manifest."

"Still not seeing how that makes it not magic. I understand it's all about controlling forces beyond what most people can comprehend, but it still seems like magic to me."

"I suppose it's a point-of-view thing. Time-Lords can _sense _those forces, _feel _them. We came to understand them long ago, before your solar system even began to form. We figured out the science of them, how to control many of them. The concept of magic was actually created on Earth, matter of fact. The _Istari _first named it. Millions of years on, it's still hanging on. Powerful thing, a name."

"I guess I can see what you're saying."

"Thank you."

"But it's still magic to me…"

… This would be about when the Doctor thunked his head down on the control console in surrender …

* * *

_To be continued…_

'_To thee no star be dark…'_


End file.
